“As many Barrydalers will know, we recently introduced paid river permits to the section of the Tradouw River that falls within our property. The river permits were aimed at addressing a few of our concerns, including liability for any incidents that may occur on our land, control of litter, and an effort to make the area safer,” Riley said in a letter to News62.
He continues:
“The permits were met with a mix of support and anger. Not a single person that objected to the permit challenged the price as a concern, but rather the notion of having to pay at all. Many people from the local community took the time to build a dialogue with us and understand our point of view, and at the same time, some rebelled by openly littering even more and defacing our signage.”
“An aspect that we’d like to highlight is that we didn’t arrive a few months ago and erect a sign. We have been camping on our farm for over a year, and have observed the behaviour at the river closely before making any decisions on how to proceed. We felt that a permit was a compromise – somewhere in the middle of an uncontrolled “free for all” on our land vs a complete shut-off to the public with fencing.”
“We’ve spent time engaging with local government, nature conservation, and the police. The permits have not worked and, quite frankly, we don’t want to spend our time policing the river. So, in an effort to find a further compromise, we have decided to waive the need for permits, allow the public to access the river at their own risk, and trust in the local community to aid in keeping the river pristine. The police are going to assist through random checks that are aimed at discouraging public drinking and ensuring that the locals enjoying the river feel safe at all times. We trust that extending uncontrolled access to the public will also be met with a sense of responsibility and care.”
“We do hope that we can find a happy solution that sees everyone enjoying the river without leaving any trace behind. In an ideal world, there should be no need for clean-up crews. We have a responsibility for maintaining about half of the Tradouw Pass which happens to fall on our property. This includes control of alien vegetation and firefighting preparedness for a very large area, of which the swimming holes on the river form a small part. Our land is not income generating and we don’t have the willpower or resources to clean up after others.”
“The Tradouw Pass holds a special heritage that is bigger than all of us. We look forward to working together to preserve and celebrate this wonderful snippet of nature.”
“Over the past few weeks, the swimming holes at the river are cleaner than they have ever been. We want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of the cleanup to get us to this point.”
“So, we hope to see you down at the river sometime soon and we do hope that this works for everyone.”
